Two Republican Members of the Senate Banking Committee have introduced legislation that would effectively revoke a large bank’s charter if it is found – the bill does not say by whom – to have allocated credit or provided services on criteria that could be deemed to reflect a political or public-policy perspective instead of a purely commercial decision. Although the bill is aimed at banks that have recently decided not to provide loans to certain gun manufactures or firearms-related businesses, it also reflects a controversy surrounding “Operation Chokepoint” at the end of the Obama Administration, during which federal banking regulators were said to have advised banks that examiners would sanction their operations if the bank continued to do business with payday lenders, firearms companies, and certain other businesses complying with applicable federal and state law.
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